Potential Mayweather Opponent Nasukawa Called “The Michael Jordan Of Kickboxing”

By: Sean Crose

Former UFC fighter Daron Cruickshank, who is now with the RIZN combat sports outfit, was supposed to be on the December 31st Floyd Mayweather-Tenshin Nasukawa card in Japan. Now that the Mayweather-Nasukawa match has been put off, only to be back on again, the American fighter spoke his mind to TMZ about Mayweather’s chances against Nasukawa. “He’s like the Michael Jordan, over there, of kickboxing,” said Cruckshank of the Japanese star. “If they did a kickboxing match,” he added, “I think Tenshin would win. If they did a regular kickboxing match, Tenshin would win.” And if it were a standard boxing match? “In a boxing match,” Cruckshank said, “I don’t think he (Nasukawa) would stand a chance.”

Photo Credit: @TeppenTenshin Twitter Account

Although he feels his RIZN teammate could potentially beat Mayweather “depending on the fight,” Cruickshank clearly wants to see the two men face off regardless. “He is super fast,” Cruickshank said of Nasukawa. “I really like to watch him fight.” Although he described Nasukawa as being “really exciting,” Cruickshank made it plain in the brief video interview that the fight, should it still happen, would be merely an exhibition. “It’s not like a real fight,” he said. “We’ll see what happens.” The assertion that the bout would be an exhibition, were it to actually go down, was backed up recently by Mayweather, who told TMZ that “it’s gonna be a little boxing exhibition, no kicking at all…I’m moving around with the guy for nine minutes, and of course it’s gonna be the highest paid exhibition ever.”

The fight world was stunned this autumn when Mayweather, via a Japanese press conference, unexpectedly announced he would be fighting Nasukawa. The former pound for pound great abruptly stepped away from the fight just days later, only to come back and say a battle between he and Nasukawa would indeed happen.

Photo Credit: @TeppenTenshin Twitter Account

“From what I know,” said Cruickhsank, “I think there was…a language barrier” between Mayweather and RIZN. Cruickshank also made it obvious he’d still love to fight on a Mayweather-Nasukawa card. At the moment, however, it seems to be business as usual for Mayweather. Recent reports have the man spending over five million dollars during a recent shopping escapade. There’s also a talk of a fight with fellow Conor McGregor conqueror Khabib Nurmagomedov still floating in the air, as well as a potential rematch against arch rival Manny Pacquiao, who will be facing Mayweather protege Adrien Broner early in 2019.

Although he’s reportedly retired from boxing – at least on the most highly competitive level he long dominated, Mayweather still wants the world to know he’s willing to make money. “It’s a no-brainer,” Mayweather said in a recent video. “Just because I’m retired from boxing. I still make appearances worldwide and make a ton of money.”